US 8,711,411 B2 · Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation · Inventors: Oshima; Yasuhiro et al.
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A print control server includes a print request receiving section which receives an e-mail to an e-mail address assigned to a specific printer as a print request; an induction section which transmits identification information related to the print request to a source of the print request by an e-mail; a print control demand receiving section which transmits the print control page related to the print request after acquiring a print control page demand based on the identification information, and receives a print execution demand to the print request related to the print control page; a data conversion section which creates the print data based on the print request; and a print data transmission section which transmits the print data to the specific printer depending on the print execution demand.
In the related art, a cloud computing system is known which includes a function of receiving the e-mail and printing the text or the attached file of the e-mail (for example, JP-A-2008-71257). The cloud computing system (hereinafter, simply referred to as a print system) includes a server which creates print data corresponding to a specific printer based on the text or the attached file of the e-mail when receiving a specific e-mail, and a printer which acquires the print data from the server to execute the printing. Thus, a user of the print system is able to use a printer even in a case where a printer driver is not installed to a client such as a PC (Personal Computer), and a smart phone. In the print system, when a registration processing of the printer including an assignment of an e-mail address for receiving the print target to the printer is performed in the server, a user is abl
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The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2011-010577, filed Jan. 21, 2011, and 2011-017632, filed Jan. 31, 2011, are incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a print control server, a print controlling method, and a print control program. Particularly, the invention relates to a cloud computing system that is able to print a text or an attached file of an e-mail by transmitting the e-mail to an e-mail address associated with a printer.
In the related art, a cloud computing system is known which includes a function of receiving the e-mail and printing the text or the attached file of the e-mail (for example, JP-A-2008-71257). The cloud computing system (hereinafter, simply referred to as a print system) includes a server which creates print data corresponding to a specific printer based on the text or the attached file of the e-mail when receiving a specific e-mail, and a printer which acquires the print data from the server to execute the printing. Thus, a user of the print system is able to use a printer even in a case where a printer driver is not installed to a client such as a PC (Personal Computer), and a smart phone.
In the print system, when a registration processing of the printer including an assignment of an e-mail address for receiving the print target to the printer is performed in the server, a user is able to use the printer by transmitting the e-mail by using the e-mail address as a destination.
However, in such a print system of the related art, there is a problem in that a user who transmits the e-mail to request the printing is unable to perform a print control such as cancelling an erroneous transmission, changing a print setting, or confirming a preview image, by a simple method.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to allow the print control by a simple method in a cloud computing system which is able to print at least one of a text and an attached file of an e-mail by transmitting the e-mail to an e-mail address associated with a printer.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a print control server that includes a print request receiving section which receives an e-mail destinated to an e-mail address assigned to a specific printer as a print request; an induction section which transmits identification information related to the print request to a source of the print request by an e-mail; a print control demand receiving section which acquires a print control page demand related to the identification information from the source of the print request, transmits the print control page related to the print request to the source of the print control page demand when acquiring the print control page demand, and receives a print execution demand corresponding to the print request related to the print control page; a data conversion section which creates the print data based on at least one of the text and the attached file of the print request; and a print data transmission section which transmits the print data to the specific printer depending on the print execution demand.
According to the invention, since the print control page is transmitted from the server to the source of the print request, a user who transmits the print request is able to determine whether the printing is executed or stopped by operating the print control page.
In the print control server according to an embodiment of the invention, the print control demand receiving section may receive the designation of the print setting together with the print execution demand, and the data conversion section may create the print data based on at least one of the text and the attached file of the print request and the received print setting.
In the case of adopting the configuration, a user who transmits the print request can designate the print setting.
In the print control server according to the embodiment of the invention, the data conversion section may also create a preview data depending on the print setting based on at least one of the text and the attached file of the print request, in addition to the print data, and a preview image based on the preview data may be laid out in the print control page.
In the case of adopting the configuration, since the print control page with the laid-out preview image is transmitted from the server to the source of the print request, a user who transmits the print request can confirm the preview image depending on the print setting.
In the print control server according to the embodiment of the invention, the print control demand receiving section may receive a change of the print setting, a preview demand, and a print execution demand to the print request related to the print control page, newly create the preview data depending on the print condition changed to the data conversion section when receiving the change of the print setting and the preview demand, and transmit the print control page in which the preview image is laid out based on the newly created preview data.
In the case of adopting the configuration, a user who transmits the print request can be required to execute the printing after confirming the preview image depending on the change of the print setting.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing method which includes transmitting an e-mail to an e-mail address assigned to a specific printer from a terminal device to a server set including at least one server as a print request, wherein the terminal device receives the e-mail transmitted from the server set depending on the print request, acquires identification information related to the print request from the received e-mail, and performs a print control page demand to the serve set based on the identification information; the terminal device acquires and displays the print control page related to the print request depending on the print control page demand from the server set; the terminal device performs a print execution demand to the print request depending on the reception of a print instruction from a user related to the print control page in the server set; the print terminal receives the print data based on at least one of a text and an attached file of the print request transmitted from the server set depending on the print execution demand; and the print terminal prints the print data.
According to an embodiment of the invention, when communicating with the print control server to perform the printing, a user who transmits the print request can determine whether the printing setting is changed or stopped by operating the print control page by using the terminal device.
In addition, functions of each sections described in the aspect are realized by a hardware resource in which functions are specified by the configuration itself, a hardware resource in which functions are specified by a program, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the functions of each section are not limited to being physically realized by hardware resources independent from each other. Furthermore, the server may be realized as one server device, and may be realized by the cooperation of a plurality of server devices. In addition, the invention is also valid as a device, a method, a system including the server, the terminal device and the printer mentioned above, a computer program that causes the server and the printer to realize the functions mentioned above, and a recording medium of the program. Of course, the recording medium of the computer program may be a magnetic recording medium, an optical magnetic medium, and any recording medium to be developed in future.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram that shows a print system.
FIG. 2A is a block diagram that shows a configuration of a server, and FIG. 2B is a block diagram that shows a configuration of a printer.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram that shows a setup sequence.
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram that shows a login sequence.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram that shows a print sequence.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart that shows an induction e-mail transmission processing.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart that shows an initial print control page transmission processing.
FIG. 8A is a screen configuration diagram that shows a print control page for a text, and FIG. 8B is a screen configuration diagram that shows a print control page for an image.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart that shows a print control page transmission processing.
FIG. 10 is a flow chart that shows a printing job creation processing.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. Furthermore, the corresponding components in each drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the overlapping descriptions will be omitted.
1. Configuration
FIG. 1 is a block diagram that shows a print system as an embodiment of the invention. The print system is constituted by a clouding computer system which is able to print a text and an attached file of an e-mail by transmitting the e-mail to an e-mail address associated with registered printers 4 and 5, and includes a print control server 1, and a plurality of printers 4 and 5.
The print control server 1 of the present embodiment includes a SMTP server 101, a data conversion service application (AP) server 102, a data conversion server 103, an XMPP server 104, a printer communication AP server 105, a DB server 106, an account management AP server 107, a HTTP server 108, a contents management AP server 109, and a HTTP server 110.
The SMTP server 101 is a server that has a function of transmitting and receiving e-mail.
The data conversion service AP server 102 as a print request receiving unit and an induction unit is an application server that has a function of extracting the text and the attached file from the e-mail received by the SMTP server 101 as the print request and delivering the text and the attached file to the data conversion server 103 as print targets.
The data conversion server 103 as the data conversion unit is a server that has a function of converting the file acquired from the data conversion AP server 102 as the print target into preview data or print data.
The DB server 106 is a data base server that manages various pieces of information of the printers 4 and 5, and stores the print data and the preview data.
The XMPP server 104 is a server that has a function of transmitting and receiving various parameters by communicating with the printers 4 and 5 by the use of the XMPP.
The printer communication AP server 105 as the print data transmission unit is an application server that has a function of crating print standby information or the like.
The account management AP server 107 as the print control request receiving unit is an application server that relays the HTTP server 110 and another server, and has a function of registering the printers 4 and 5 in the print system or crating the print control page.
The HTTP server 108 is a server that has a function of communicating with the printers 4 and 5 by the use of the HTTP.
The contents management AP server 107 is an application server that relays the HTTP server 108 and another server, and has a function of acquiring the printing job from the DB server 106 and delivering the same to the HTTP server 108 or the like.
The HTTP server 110 is a server that has a function of communicating with a guest terminal 2 as a terminal device and an administrator terminal 3 as a terminal device by the use of the HTTP.
As shown in FIG. 2A, each of the SMTP server 101, the data conversion service AP server 102, the data conversion server 103, the XMPP server 104, the printer communication AP server 105, the DB server 106, the account management AP server 107, the HTTP server 108, the contents management AP server 107, and the HTTP server 110 includes a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, a hard disk device (HDD) 14, an external interface (I/F) 15, and an internal interface (I/F) 16 connecting them to each other. A boot program is stored in the ROM 13. An operating system (OS) and a computer program for realizing the respective functions mentioned above are stored in the HDD 14. Such a program is loaded to the RAM 12 and is executed by the CPU 11. The external I/F 15 includes an interface for being connected with another server, printers 4 and 5, a guest terminal 2, an administrator terminal 3 or the like via the Internet, an interface for being connected with a peripheral device or the like.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the respective printers 4 and 5 include a controller 41, an external I/F 42, a user I/F 46, a printing engine 43, and an internal I/F 47 connecting them to each other. The controller 41 is constituted by a CPU, a nonvolatile memory, a RAM, an ASIC or the like, and executes the processing for controlling the operation of the printing engine 43 by executing the print program stored in the nonvolatile memory. Furthermore, the controller 41 executes the processing for communicating with the terminal 3 and the print control server 1 by executing the web service program stored in the nonvolatile memory, registering the printers 4 and 5 in the print control server 1, or acquiring the print data from the print control server 1. The print engine 43 includes an actuator for executing the printing by a known printing method such as an ink jet method or a laser method, a sensor, a driving circuit, and a mechanical component. The external I/F 42 includes an interface for being connected with the print control server 1 and the administrator terminal 3 via an internet. The user I/F 46 is an operation panel constituted by a display, an operation key or the like.
Furthermore, although it is not shown, the guest terminal 2 and the administrator terminal 3 are computers that include a CPU, a nonvolatile memory, a RAM, a user interface or the like and are able to communicate with the print control server 1, the printers 4 and 5 or the like. In addition, the guest terminal 2 and the administrator terminal 3 may be the same device.
2. Setup Sequence
The printers 4 and 5 are built in the print system and are able to execute the printing according to the print request to be received by the print server 1, by being registered in the print control server 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram that shows a setup sequence for registering the printers 4 and 5 in the print control server 1. The present embodiment describes an example which registers the printer 4 in the print control server 1 by operating the administrator terminal 3 constituted by a PC (Personal Computer) owned by an owner of the printer 4.
Firstly, the administrator 3 executing a web browser or the like transmits the setup start demand to the printer 4 by communicating with the printer 4 by the use of HTTP (S100). For example, the administrator terminal 3 transmits a DNS mode, a primary DNS, a secondary DNS, a proxy mode, an address of the proxy server, and a photo number of the proxy server as a setup start demand to a URL of the printer 4 corresponding to the setup start demand by the use of the HTTP.
The printer 4 acquired the setup start demand starts a registration processing, and transmits the registration state information to the administrator terminal 3 (S102). The registration state information includes success or failure of the reception (success/failure), the DNS mode, the primary DNS, the secondary DNS, the proxy mode, the address of the proxy server, the photo number of the proxy server, a web service mode URS, a registration state (registered/unregistered) of the printer 4 to the printer control server 1, a URL of the management page corresponding to the printer 4, a login password of the management page corresponding to the printer 4, an e-mail address assigned to the printer 4, a connection state between the HTTP server 108 and the printer 4, and a connection state between XMPP server 104 and the printer 4. At this stage, since the registration of the printer 4 to the print control server 1 is not performed, the registration state information including a registration state "non-registration" is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3.
The administrator terminal 3 received the registration state information displays a setup status on a screen based on the received state information (S104). At this stage, for example, a text and an image indicating the state of being setup are displayed on a screen of the administrator terminal 3 by a browser.
The printer 4 transmitted the registration state information according to the setup start demand transmits a model-specific ID of the printer 4, a serial number of the printer 4, and a deletion flag of existing information as the registration demand corresponding to the printer 4 to the URL of the HTTP server 108 corresponding to the registration demand by the use of HTTP (S106).
The print control server 1 acquired the registration demand in the HTTP server 108 registers the printer 4 in the print control server 1 as an output device of the print system based on the registration demand (S108).
Specifically, the account management AP server 107 that acquired the parameter of the registration demand from the HTTP server 108 allocates the internal ID corresponding to the model-specific ID and the serial number of the printer 4, the XMPP login password, the URL of the administration page, the administration page password, and the e-mail address to the printer 4, while referring to the registration information of another printer registered in the DB server 106 in advance. Even in a case where the serial number is assigned to the printer by different schemes for each model by allocating the internal ID based on the model-specific ID and the serial number of the printer 4, it is possible to reliably allocate the different internal ID for each printer unit to the printer 4. The administration page is a web page for editing information stored in the DB server 106 by the use of the HTTP.
Moreover, the account management AP server 107 stores the XMPP login password, the URL of the management page, the administration page password, and the e-mail address on the DB server 106 in association with the internal ID corresponding to the model-specific ID and the serial number of the printer 4, as registration information of the printer 4.
In addition, the account management AP server 107 registers the e-mail address assigned to the printer 4 in the SMTP server 101. By registering the e-mail address assigned to the printer 4 in the SMTP server 101, the print control server 1 is able to receive the e-mail as the print request setting the printer 4 as the output device.
Furthermore, the account management AP server 107 registers the internal ID and the XMPP login password assigned to the printer 4 in association with each other in the XMPP server 104. The XMPP JID, in which the XMPP server 104 communicates with the printer 4 by the use of the XMPP, is an "XMPP domain name of an internal ID "@" XMPP server 104". By registering the internal ID and the XMPP login password of the printer 4 in the XMPP server 104 as the XMPP connection information, the printer 4 is able to communicate with the print control server 1 by the use of XMPP. In addition, in the case of providing a plurality of XMPP servers in the print control server 1 for the load distribution, there is a need to allocate the XMPP server corresponding to the printer for each printer and register the same in the DB server 106.
The account management AP server 107, in which the printer 4 is registered in the print control server 1 as the output device of the print system, transmits the registration result information of the printer 4 to the printer 4, which is a source of the registration request, via the HTTP server 108 (S110). The registration result information includes the internal ID assigned to the printer 4, the XMPP login password, the URL of the management page, the management page password, the e-mail address, the domain name of the XMPP server 104, and success or failure of reception of the registration demand (success/failure). In addition, in the case of providing a plurality of XMPP servers in the print control server 1 for the load distribution, there is a need to notify the domain name of the XMPP server assigned to the printer 4 to the printer 4. However, in a case where the XMPP server, with which all the printers registered in the print control server 1 communicate, is common, there is no need to necessarily notify the domain name of the XMPP server to the printer 4.
The printer 4, which acquires the registration result information from the HTTP server 108, stores the internal ID assigned to the printer 4, the XMPP login password, the URL of the management page, the management page password, the e-mail address, and the domain name of the XMPP server 104 on the nonvolatile memory, creates the XMPP JID from the internal ID and the XMPP domain name, and transmits the XMPP JID and the XMPP login password to the XMPP server 104 as the XMPP connection information (S112).
The XMPP server 104, which acquires the XMPP JID and the XMPP login password from the printer 4, establishes the XMPP connection with the printer 4, and transmits the XMPP connection result (success/failure) to the printer 4 (S114). At this time, when the XMPP connection succeeds, the XMPP connection between the printer 4 and the XMPP server 104 is continued until the power to the printer 4 is interrupted.
When the XMPP connection with the print control server 1 is established, the printer 4 transmits the printer information to the HTTP server 108 (S116). The printer information includes the internal ID assigned to the printer 4, a version of communication specification, menu type information of the printer (destination information), sub menu type information of the printer (destination information), and language information of the printer, and is transmitted to the URL of the HTTP server 108 corresponding to the printer information by the use of the HTTP. By transmitting the printer information including the language information or the like to the print control server 1, it is possible to create the print data such as a registration report depending on the destination of the printer 4, and the print report in the print control server 1.
The When the HTTP server 108 receives the printer information from the printer 4, the contents management AP server 107 stores the printer information in the DB server 106 in association with the internal ID, and transmits the reception result (success/failure) to the printer 4 of the source (S118). The printer information of the printer 4 is stored in the DB server 106 until the XMPP connection with the printer 4 is finished.
The printer 4, which receives the reception result (success) of the printer information, transmits a registration result notification job creation request to the HTTP server 108 (S122). The registration result notification job is a print job for printing the registration content of the printer 4 to the print control server 1 by the printer 4. Specifically, the internal ID is transmitted to the URL of the HTTP server 108 corresponding to the registration result notification job creation request as the registration result notification job creation request.
The HTTP server 108, which receives the registration result notification job creation request, transmits the reception result (success/failure) to the printer 4 of the source (S124).
When transmitting the reception result (success) of the registration result notification job creation request from the HTTP server 108, the print control server 1 creates the registration result notification job for printing a registration report by the printer 4 (S126). Specifically, firstly, the contents management AP server 107 acquires the internal ID of the printer 4 from the registration result notification job creation request, acquires information to be notified to a user of the administrator terminal 3 such as the URL of the management page stored in association with the acquired internal ID, the management page password, and the e-mail address, and the device-specific ID of the printer 4 stored in association with the internal ID from the OB server 106, and delivers the same to the printer communication AP server 105. Next, the printer communication AP server 105 requests the data conversion service AP server 102 for the creation of the print data for printing information to be notified to a user of the administrator terminal 3 as a registration report by the printer 4 in association with the job ID and the model ID. The requested data conversion service AP server 102 creates the print data corresponding to the model-specific ID in the data conversion server 103. Next, the printer communication AP server 105 acquires the print data from the data conversion server 103 and stores the same as the print job of the printer 4 in the DB server 106 in association with the internal ID and the job ID.
The print control server 1 crating the registration result notification job notifies an occurrence of new print job to the printer 4 of the source of the registration request by the use of XMPP (S128). Specifically, the printer communication AP server 105 notifies print standby information indicating an occurrence of new print job of the printer 4 via the XMPP server 104 to the printer 4. At this time, the XMPP server 104 specifies a partner of the XMPP communication to the printer 4 based on the internal ID acquired from the printer communication AP server 105, and transmits the print standby information to the printer 4 by the use of XMPP. In this manner, since the print standby information is transmitted by the use of XMPP, the print control server 1 can autonomously perform the processing after the print job is created, until the print standby information is transmitted to the printer 4 and thus, there is no need for polling from the printer 4. Thus, it is possible to immediately notify the creation of the print job to the printer 4, and it is possible to notify the creation of the print job to the printer 4 by a minimum communication amount.
The printer 4 acquired the print standby information transmits and receives the reception result (success/failure) to and from the XMPP server 104 by the use of XMPP (S138).
Next, the printer 4 request the print control server 1 of the print job information required for acquiring the print data (S140). Specifically, the printer 4 transmits the internal ID of the printer 4 to the URL of the HTTP server 108 corresponding to the demand of the print job information by the use of the HTTP.
The print control server 1 received the demand of the print job information transmits the reception result (success/failure), the job ID, the URL of the HTTP server 108 corresponding to the job ID, and the type of the page description language of the print page to the printer 4 as the print job information (S142). Specifically, the contents management AP server 107 acquires the internal ID acquired by the HTTP server 108 as a demand of the print job information, acquires the job ID stored in association with the internal ID, the print data, and the page description language of the print data from the DB server 106, and delivers the same to the HTTP server 108. The HTTP server 108 creates the URL receiving the acquisition demand of the print data corresponding to the job ID, and transmits the reception result (success/failure), the job ID, the URL the acquisition demand of the print data, and the type of the page description language of the print data to the printer 4 as the print job information by the use of the HTTP.
The printer 4 which acquired the print job information waits until the printer 4 enters an idle state, and when entering the idle state, the printer 4 demands the print data (S146). Specifically, the printer transmits the internal HTTP of the printer 4 as the acquisition demand of the print data to the URL of the HTTP server 108 receiving the acquisition demand of the print data via the HTTP.
The print control server 1 demanded for the print data transmits the reception result (success/failure) and the demanded print data to the printer 4 by the use of the HTTP (S148). Specifically, the HTTP server 108 transmits the print data corresponding to the URL receiving the demand of the print data and the reception result to the printer 4 by the use of the HTTP.
The printer 4 acquired the print data executes the printing of the registration report based on the print data (S150).
The printer 4, in which the printing has been finished, transmits the execution result information to the HTTP server 108 (S154). Specifically, the printer 4 transmits the internal ID of the printer 4, the job ID executed the printing, the execution result (success/failure) of the print job, a generated reason of the execution result (normal, a paper jam, running out of ink or the like) to the URL corresponding to the execution result information of the HTTP server 108 (S152).
The print control server 1, which acquired the execution result information in the HTTP server 108, renews the print job based on the execution result information (S156). Specifically, the HTTP server 108 transmits the reception result (success/failure) of the execution result information to the printer 4, and the contents management AP server 107 deletes the print data corresponding to the job ID from the DB server 106, based on the execution result information received by the HTTP server 108.
During execution of the setup sequence mentioned above, the administrator terminal 3 which transmitted the setup start demand regularly demands of the printer 4 the setup status (S130). Specifically, the administrator terminal 3 transmits the status of setup to the URL of the printer 4 corresponding to the demand of the setup status.
The printer 4 received the demand of the setup status transmits the registration state information to the administrator terminal 3 by the use of the HTTP (S132). The registration state information is the same as the content transmitted to the administrator terminal 3 by the printer 4 in S102 immediately after acquiring the setup start demand.
Like S104, the administrator terminal 3 received the registration state information displays the registration state based on the received registration state information on a screen (S134). In the step in which the registration of the printer 4 to the print control server 1 is completed, for example, the URL of the management page, the management page password, the e-mail address or the like are displayed on the screen of the administrator terminal 3.
In the setup sequence mentioned above, in the process of registering the printer 4 in the print control server 1 while being connected to the printer 4 by the use of the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), success or failure of the reception of the registration demand, the registration result information, the XMPP connection result, the reception result of the printer information, and the reception result of the registration result notification job creation request are transmitted from the print control server 1 to the printer 4. Such information indicates whether the HTTP connection and XMPP connection between the printer 4 and the print control server 1 succeed, and whether the registration required for processing the print demand of the printer 4 by the print control server 1 is performed. Thus, the printer 4 can prints success or failure of the connection between the printer 4 and the print control server 1, and success or failure of the registration of the printer 4 to the print control server 1, or can display then on the display of the user I/F 46. For this reason, by transmitting the e-mail to the e-mail address associated with the printer 4, it is possible to reliably to notify a user whether or not the printer 4 is registered in the print system which is a cloud computing system capable of printing the text or the attached file of the e-mail.
3. Login Sequence
FIG. 4 is a diagram that shows a login sequence. The login sequence is started when a user presses a power button of the printer 4 to interrupt the power and then presses the power button again to turn on the power. In the login sequence, the printer 4 performs the initialization processing of each section, establishes the XMPP connection with the print control server 1, and confirms the print job.
Specifically, like the setup sequence S112, the printer 4 transmits the XMPP connection information to the XMPP server 104 (S200). The XMPP server 104 acquired the XMPP connection information establishes the XMPP connection like S114 (S204).
The printer 4, which established the XMPP connection with the print control server 1, transmits the printer information to the print control server 1 by the use of the HTTP, like S116 of the setup sequence (S206). That is, the transmission of the printer information is performed whenever the XMPP connection is established between the printer and the print control server 1. The server acquired the printer information transmits the reception result to the printer 4 by the use of the HTTP, like S118, and stores the printer information until the XMPP connection is finished (S208).
The printer 4, which transmitted the printer information to the print control server 1, demands the print control server 1 of the print job information by the use of the HTTP, like S140 of the setup sequence (S212). The print control server 1 acquired the demand of the print job transmits the print job information to the printer 4 by the use of the HTTP, like S142 (S214). If there is a print job, the printer 4 which acquired the print job information demands the print data to execute the printing. In this manner, the printer 4 automatically acquires the print job information after the power is turned on, whereby the printer 4 is able to execute the print job created in the print control server 1 in the process of blocking the power immediately after putting the power.
4. Print Sequence
FIG. 5 is a diagram that shows a print sequence. The print sequence is started by transmitting the e-mail as the print request from the administrator terminal 3 or the guest terminal 2 to the registered e-mail address (S300). As described later, the print control server 1 processes the text and the attached file of the e-mail received in the registered e-mail address as the print target. For this reason, when a user transmits the e-mail by using the print target as the text or the attached file, the e-mail is processed by the print control server 1 as the print request. As described above, the destination e-mail addresses of the print request different from each other for each printer is screen-displayed in the administrator terminal 3 in the setup sequence, or is printed by the printer 4. Thus, an administration user, who registers the printer 4 in the print control server 1 by the use of the administrator terminal 3, and a guest user, who is notified of the e-mail address from the administration user, can transmit the print request of the printer 4 to the print control server 1 by the use any terminal connected to the internet. Hereinafter, the e-mail as the print request is transmitted from the guest terminal 2 to the e-mail address corresponding to the printer 4.
When receiving the print request, the print control server 1 transmits the induction e-mail including the URL as identification information related to the print request to the source of the print request (S302). Hereinafter, the details of the transmission processing of the induction e-mail are also described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 6.
The e-mail as the print request is received by the SMTP server 101. When the SMTP server 101 receives the e-mail addressed the registered e-mail address, the data conversion service AP server 102 specifies the internal ID related to the print request from the e-mail address received the print request, acquires and analyzes the e-mail from the SMTP server 101, extracts the text and the attached file to which the data conversion server 103 corresponds as the print target, and allocates the internal ID and the job ID to the extracted print target for each file (S3020). Herein, the data conversion service AP server 102 specifies the internal ID related to the print request, that is, the internal ID assigned to the printer 4, by acquiring the internal ID related to the destination e-mail address of the print request from the DB server 106. In addition, when the e-mail is attached with the attached file to which the data conversion server 103 does not correspond, the e-mail using the source of the print request as the destination is transmitted and the error is notified, without allocating the internal ID and the job ID to the attached file. Moreover, the internal ID and the job ID are assigned only to the text, and the attached file to which the data conversion server 103 corresponds.
Next, the data conversion service AP server 102 creates the preview data for each job ID by the use of the data conversion server 103 (S3022). Specifically, the data conversion service AP server 102 specifies the internal ID and the model ID of the printer 4 corresponding to the e-mail address which is the destination of the e-mail by referring to the DB server 106. Next, the data conversion service AP server 102 delivers the initial print setting and the print target in association with each other to the data conversion server 103. The data conversion server 103 converts each of the acquired print targets into the preview data depending on the initial print setting.
Next, the data conversion service AP server 102 stores the print target and the preview data on the DB server 106 in association with the internal ID and the job ID (S3024).
Next, the data conversion service AP server 102 includes the URL of the HTTP server 110 corresponding to the job ID in the text, creates the induction e-mail using the source of the print request as the destination, and transmits the same to the guest terminal 2 via the SMTP server 101 (S3026). The data conversion service AP server 102 associates the URL with the print request by including the job ID in the URL included in the text of the induction e-mail. When a plurality of print targets is extracted from the print request the URL included in the induction e-mail is associated with the job ID assigned to the printed target extracted initially. In this manner, the URL partially including the job ID is referred to as the induction URL. As mentioned above, the details of the transmission processing of the induction e-mail have been described.
When a user of the guest terminal 2 received the induction e-mail opens the induction e-mail and clicks the induction URL, initial print control page request is transmitted to the print control server 1 (S304). Specifically, a mail user agent of the guest terminal 2 displayed the text of the induction e-mail transmits the induction URL as the initial print control page request via a web browser by the user of the HTTP.
The print control server 1, which acquired the print control page request in the induction URL, transmits the initial print control page related to the print request to the guest terminal 2 of the source of the initial control page demand (S306). Hereinafter, the details of the transmission processing of the initial print control page will also be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 7.
The description continues in the full USPTO document.
About 6,829 words. The USPTO PDF has it with every drawing.
Fees are due 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after grant. This patent expired on April 29, 2026, so the fee marked "not paid" was the one that went unpaid.
Print Control Server, Print Controlling Method, and Print Control Program
Filed Jan 2012 · published Jul 2012Print control server, print controlling method, and print control program
Filed Jan 2012 · granted Apr 2014Earlier publications, parents and continuations. None of them can still be enforced, or this patent would not be listed.
Prior art cited by the examiner or applicant. Useful when you check your own idea for novelty.
Everything on this page comes from the documents linked above.
